Leading During Pandemic

They know “WHY” their subordinates or team members are doing a great job or doing a bad job.

A great leader understands human nature.

When we look at the history of the world, regular people have shown heroic acts and also horrific acts.

A great leader knows WHY his or her people did heroic acts or horrific acts.

A great leader is also a resilient person.

A resilient person finds purpose in life’s turmoil. They know they can learn from both positive and negative events.

As we navigate through the pandemic in today’s modern time, a great leader is someone who is not afraid to face the fears that his team members feel. Fear manifests into anger, isolation, sadness, disgust, irritability, panic, anxiety, lack of motivation or insubordination.

Now, as a leader, how do you communicate with your team members and process their fear. Because when you IGNORE their fear, then work will not get done successfully.

Here are The 4 Steps To Lead Effectively During The Pandemic:

Be a good example of how to prioritize yourself. When you neglect what you need, then you cannot lead appropriately. Those who lead with the mindset of being a martyr are the same ones who are resentful and ineffective. A leader needs to take care of themselves first so they can stay cool, calm and collected because nobody wants to follow someone who is in panic mode, burnout or angry. When your team members see you taking care of yourself and that you are positive in the work environment instead of being miserable or afraid or hopeless, then they too would take care of themselves so they can be more productive at work.

Communicate what you need. Be vulnerable and ask for help. A great leader knows the strengths and weaknesses of his or her team members, therefore they know who delegate certain tasks. As a leader, your team members look up to you and expect you to know what you want and what your goals are, therefore ask them how you can accomplish the goals together. If you are not familiar with your team members’ strengths and weaknesses, it’s not too late, learn them now.

Let them influence you. During these trying times, ask your team members for ideas, suggestions, and solutions to some of the problems. More brains are better than one. They may have something to share that can be really good for the team. A great leader is confident enough to let their followers influence them. This builds so much trust because your team members will feel great about being able to contribute to the team.

Regular Check-ins with team members. Make sure that you take some time to send a personal e-mail, text or message to each of your team members. This simple act means a lot to your team members. It means that you care about them. Take advantage of the Huddle Time where you go around the “room” and ask each one the following questions:

How do you feel?

What excites you today?

What challenges are you facing?

Who can you ask for help?

Being empathetic is very important during this pandemic. Empathy is a choice a leader makes. It is having compassion towards your team members and not trying to fix them. A great leader is an empathetic person who chooses to be with someone’s pain and accepting their circumstances without blame, shame, judgment or guilt. Through empathy, you build trust in your team.